Are you “Active” or are you Fit?

You wouldn’t believe the number of excuses that I get from people on why they don’t exercise.

Often times their reason is self-inflicted: I don’t have the time.

Sometimes it’s procrastination: I’m going to start as soon as tax season ends.

And occasionally the reason is downright funny: I don’t like to sweat.

As you can imagine, I point out to these well meaning excuse-makers that, despite their legitimate reason not to, exercise is a vital part of cultivating a strong, healthy and attractive body.

In fact, if they would just exercise 2 to 4 times each week they would feel a dramatic improvement in their daily life, starting with renewed energy and strength.

I then bring up the health benefits and explain how many of their health problems would improve. I talk about how great they will feel, and look, dropping those extra pounds and rediscovering a slender figure.

However, there was an excuse that would always stump me.

The sneaky excuse of ‘being active’: Oh, I don’t need to exercise with a personal trainer – I’m very active. I play golf and tennis and Wii.

Well, that is a good excuse, right? Golf, tennis and Wii are all active sports that burn calories. Maybe they can be fit without doing any other exercise…

Then I started noticing a trend.

The ‘golf’ people couldn’t touch their toes in a simple flexibility test. The ‘tennis players’ couldn’t jump rope for 60 seconds. The ‘Wii players’ needed a week to recover from a one mile jog. The so-called ‘active’ people encountered injury after injury.

And then it hit me.

You can’t become fit simply by being active.

Only by being fit can you become more active.

To be lean and to maintain a level of fitness there is no substitute for a consistent, challenging exercise program. It’s the only way!
To truly be fit is when your body is able to do whatever you ask of it. This comes from a combination of flexibility, strength and endurance.

So, do you exercise?

Or are you fooling yourself with the idea of ‘being active’?

How do you feel about your current level of fitness? Are you able to do each and everything you want? Or do you end up opting out of activities that you know would be too challenging?

If you’ve used the excuse of ‘being active’ in the past, take a minute to reconsider your position. Don’t bank on your ‘active’ lifestyle with the hope of true results.